Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons^™

Dangerous Anarchist Strikers, Nathan Jun

2025 Faculty Bibliography

No abstract provided.

The Best Confucian Hybrid Meritocracy-Democracy For Liberal Democracies, John J. Park

Comparative Philosophy

Several contemporary Confucian philosophers have posited differing hybrid views fusing meritocracy to democracy. There is a good deal of interest in a meritocracy in contemporary Confucian thought, and such a view perhaps should receive more serious consideration in liberal democratic thought since it may make for a stronger form of government when appended to democracy. In this paper, four contemporary hybrid theorists who combine elements of a meritocracy with a democracy are critically analyzed concerning an ability for their views to be instantiated in liberal democracies for the legislative branch only. Finally, I provide a modified hybrid view for the …

Loose Connections In The Just Society, Benjamin Parviz

Theses

John Rawls’ influential A Theory of Justice presents a liberal theory in which individuals gain “a sense of justice” that commits them to the success of the just society above other interests or life plans. Critics of Rawlsian liberalism such as Taylor, Sandel, MacIntyre, Walzer, and the communitarians have variously complained that his theory inadequately accounts for individual commitment to community as distinct from commitment to the whole of society. In this essay I consider Rawls’s theory in light of the arguments of these community concerned critics in order to understand whether these complaints have any merit. In particular, I …

Community Unclaimed: Plurality And The Problem Of Sovereignty In Bataille, Nancy, And Blanchot, Gregory J. Grobmeier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation takes up the exchange between three prominent French thinkers on the question of “community”: Georges Bataille, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Maurice Blanchot. Taken together, and starting with Bataille’s prewar writings and communitarian activism in the 1930s, the exchange between them now spans nearly a century. Georges Bataille’s importance as a political thinker and writer was brought out of relative obscurity with the publication of Jean-Luc Nancy’s “La Communauté désoeuvrée” in 1983. Less than a year after the appearance of Nancy’s inaugural essay, Maurice Blanchot, a close friend of the late Bataille, published La Communauté inavouable. Blanchot’s text was …

Education In Liberal Political Theories, Amy Cain

Honors Theses

This paper examines two sources of conflict within the literature on education in liberal political theories: the proper justifications for a state-mandated education and the necessary standard for education in a liberal state. After arguing that a liberal state must offer a child-centered justification for the universal mandate and uphold an equality standard of education, this paper proceeds to examine two common objections to such a system of compulsory education in a liberal state. This paper concludes that the perennial objections based upon concerns for familial rights and pluralism do not present a significant obstacle for incorporating a system of …

The Ethics Of Resisting Immigration Law, Javier S. Hidalgo

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

States heavily restrict immigration, and many people violate these restrictions. For example, unauthorized immigrants cross borders without official permission, and other actors, such as people smugglers, assist them in doing so. How should we evaluate resistance to immigration law from a moral perspective? In this article, I survey recent work on the ethics of resisting immigration law. In particular, I examine three categories of resistance to immigration law as the following: unauthorized immigration, people smuggling, and citizens' resistance to laws that prohibit them from assisting or interacting with unauthorized immigrants.

Just Borders: The Foundations Of Immigration Policy, Cody Fenwick

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Do countries have a presumptive right to limit immigration at their discretion? It is often assumed that they do, though both the immigration restrictions championed in practice and the purported justifications for the principled right to deny entry to foreigners are often supported by implicit (or explicit) racist prejudices. Many political philosophers have offered putatively more sophisticated and reasoned defenses of the state’s discretionary right to restrict immigration. I discuss the philosophical arguments for the restrictionist view on grounds of national territorial rights, and separately, on the grounds of nationalist partiality toward one’s fellow citizens. I will argue that both …

Realist Nonideal Theory: The Intuition Critique, Reflective Equilibrium And The Role Of Morality In Politics, Danny R. Underwood Ii

Theses

In this paper, I explain political realist Raymond Geuss’ critique of John Rawls concerning his use of intuitions when developing a political philosophy. Rawls’ justice as fairness, due to its reliance on moral intuitions, fails to achieve the theory's purported aim and has the effect of affirming the status quo. I use Rawls’ idea of reflective equilibrium, where our theoretical principles are checked against our commitments until a satisfactory balance is reached, as an explanatory framework to discuss various forms of political philosophy. By adopting this framework, the disputes between various approaches to political philosophy are reducible to which initial …

A Normative Account Of Political Representation, Kenneth R. Courtney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The phrase “political obligation” has rarely suggested for theorists what it might for the person in the street, namely, the kinds and magnitudes of obligations held by our political representatives, as opposed to obligations held by citizens. In a related way, despite the existence of widespread expectations of political representatives, a theoretical account of these expectations and their normative import are subjects that have received surprisingly little attention. In what follows I develop an account of obligations and duties specifically belonging to political representatives. I argue that the relevant obligations derive in the first instance not from particular political or …

Natural Law And Agonistic Pluralism, Daniel E. Young

Northwestern Review

John Rawls’ account of political liberalism posits the necessity of a metaphysically neutral “public reason” to avoid privileging any comprehensive doctrine in the public square. The natural law tradition has been claimed by some as meeting this standard. However, thinkers such as Tracey Rowland criticize the attempt to make natural law a secular, neutral ground; she believes it must be rooted in an overtly Trinitarian and Christological theology. However, such theological assumptions are not shared by those of other comprehensive doctrines. Chantal Mouffe has also challenged Rawls’ consensus conception, focusing rather on the inevitable ideological conflicts to be found in …

Le Génocide Comme Défi À L’Éthique, Théoneste Nkeramihigo

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article proposes the genocide constitutes moral defiance for at least three evident reasons: by the suffering of the innocent, it shows the failure of the moral vision that establishes a causal link between pain suffered and evil committed, of ethics and redistribution. And finally, the genocide challenges ethics by spreading the mortal conflict of opposite moral systems meaning the genocide was perpetrated according to a particular moral code. The article examines an essential aspect of politics, the hostility towards finding the structure of reception of the genocidal drift. Then, how to imagine a moral code that effectively fights the …

Does The Existing Human Rights Regime Have Political Authority?, Christopher Heath Wellman

San Diego Law Review

In this Article I consider whether the existing international legal human rights regime enjoys political authority over sovereign states. In particular, I explore whether, just as states can cite their role as the primary institutions that protect human rights in order to justify their claim to authority over their citizens, perhaps the current human rights regime might plausibly cite its secondary role in securing human rights in order to ground its authority over these states.

Review Of The Book "Understanding Liberal Democracy: Essays In Political Philosophy", Kelly Sorensen

Philosophy and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

[Excerpt] Nicholas Wolterstorff argues that public reason liberalism is a dead end, and defends instead what he takes to be a more defensible form of liberalism ("equal political voice liberalism"). His book is fresh and compelling, and an important contribution to political philosophy.

The Desert Of The Ethical, Jules Simon

Selected Works Temporary Series

As far as I can tell, the concept of “desert” in Levinas’s thought seems to retain itsfamiliar associations, namely, as an environment that can be empirically characterizedas inhospitable, barren, and destitute of the kinds of material resources necessary forthe growth of the autonomous and autochthonous subjective self. It also seems plausiblethat a relevant extension of desert conditions to human community in Levinas’stopography would be the “cities” of concentration camps of the Holocaust. In otherwords, there is a correlative interior type of desert that, with Levinas, can be intuitedas what I am calling a desert of the ethical . In what …

The Desert Of The Ethical, Jules Simon

Departmental Papers (Philosophy)

 As far as I can tell, the concept of “desert” in Levinas’s thought seems to retain itsfamiliar associations, namely, as an environment that can be empirically characterizedas inhospitable, barren, and destitute of the kinds of material resources necessary forthe growth of the autonomous and autochthonous subjective self. It also seems plausiblethat a relevant extension of desert conditions to human community in Levinas’stopography would be the “cities” of concentration camps of the Holocaust. In otherwords, there is a correlative interior type of desert that, with Levinas, can be intuitedas what I am calling a desert of the ethical . In what …

Politics And Philosophy In Aristotle's Critique Of Plato's Laws, Kevin M. Cherry

Political Science Faculty Publications

Whether on matters of politics or physics, Aristotle's criticism of his predecessors is not generally considered a model of charitable interpretation. He seems to prefer, as Christopher Rowe puts it, "polemic over accuracy" (2003, 90). His criticism of the Laws is particularly puzzling: It is much shorter than his discussion of the Republic and raises primarily technical objections of questionable validity. Indeed, some well-known commentators have concluded the criticisms, as we have them in the Politics, were made of an earlier draft of the Laws and that Plato, in light of these criticisms, revised the final version. I hope …

[Introduction To] Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls And Beyond, Martin O'Neill, Thad Williamson

Bookshelf

Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond features a collection of original essays that represent the first extended treatment of political philosopher John Rawls' idea of a property-owning democracy.

- Offers new and essential insights into Rawls's idea of "property-owning democracy"

- Addresses the proposed political and economic institutions and policies which Rawls's theory would require

- Considers radical alternatives to existing forms of capitalism

- Provides a major contribution to debates among progressive policymakers and activists about the programmatic direction progressive politics should take in the near future

The Declaration Of Independence And Immigration In The United States Of America, Kenneth M. White

Faculty Articles

The United States has always been a nation of immigrants, and immigration policy has always been controversial. The history of immigration in the United States is contrasted in this article with a normative standard of naturalization (immigration policy) based on the Declaration of Independence. The current immigration debate fits within a historical pattern that pits an unrestricted right of immigration (the left) against exclusive, provincial politics (the right). Both sides are simultaneously correct and incorrect. A moderate policy on immigration is possible if the debate in the United States gets an infusion of what Thomas Paine called "common sense."

How Should Feminist Autonomy Theorists Respond To The Problem Of Internalized Oppression?, Sonya Charles

Philosophy and Religious Studies Department Faculty Publications

In "Autonomy and the Feminist Intuition," Natalie Stoljar asks whether a procedural or a substantive approach to autonomy is best for addressing feminist concerns. In this paper, I build on Stoljar's argument that feminists should adopt a strong substantive approach to autonomy. After briefly reviewing the problems with a purely procedural approach, I begin to articulate my own strong substantive theory by focusing specifically on the problem of internalized oppression. In the final section, I briefly address some of the concerns raised by procedural theorists who are leery of a substantive approach.

Business Ethics And (Or As) Political Philosophy, Jeffrey Moriarty, Wayne Norman, Joseph Heath

Philosophy Faculty Publications

There is considerable overlap between the interests of business ethicists and those of political philosophers. Questions about the moral justifiability of the capitalist system, the basis of property rights, and the problem of inequality in the distribution of income have been of central importance in both fields. However, political philosophers have developed, especially over the past four decades, a set of tools and concepts for addressing these questions that are in many ways quite distinctive. Most business ethicists, on the other hand, consider their field to be primarily a domain of applied ethics, and so adopt methods and conceptual frameworks …

The Sources Of International Law: Some Philosophical Reflections, David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

It seems only natural to begin the study of international law with a description of its sources. After all, whether as practitioner or scholar a person cannot begin to ask or answer questions about international law until he or she has some sense of what the law is. This requires in turn a basic grasp of the processes whereby international legal norms and regimes come to exist. Thus students of international law must engage immediately with some of the most basic questions in the philosophy of law: what is law, and what is a legal order or system.

These questions …

The Constitution Of Equality: Democratic Authority And Its Limits By Thomas Christiano (Book Review), David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In this carefully argued and thought provoking new book, Thomas Christiano offers a novel defense of democracy's intrinsic value, its morally justifiable claim to authority, and the limits thereof, as well as for liberal rights. Central to Christiano's argument for each of these conclusions is the claim that in a moderately complex and pluralist society, social justice requires that people be treated publicly as equals. That is, ordinary agents must be able to see that the institutions and practices that provide the basic structure of the society in which they live treat them as equals, or what is the same, …

On The Relevance Of Political Philosophy To Business Ethics, Jeffrey Moriarty

Philosophy Faculty Publications

The central problems of political philosophy (e.g., legitimate authority, distributive justice) mirror the central problems of business ethics. The question naturally arises: should political theories be applied to problems in business ethics? If a version of egalitarianism is the correct theory of justice for states, for example, does it follow that it is the correct theory of justice for businesses? If states should be democratically governed by their citizens, should businesses be democratically managed by their employees? Most theorists who have considered these questions, including John Rawls in Political Liberalism, and Robert Phillips and Joshua Margolis in a 1999 article, …

Tradition And Truth In Christian Ethics: John Yoder And The Bases Of Biblical Realism, G. Scott Davis

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Reflecting on the state of theological ethics in 1981, James Gustafson wrote that "the radical Christian ethics of Yoder mark a substantive position for which there are many sound defenses; to opt against it is to opt against some fundamental claims of traditional Christianity." This, however, comes fast on the heels of Gustafson's remark that, despite its historical, biblical, sociological, and moral warrants, "I note Yoder's option here because it is the one most dramatically different from the option I shall pursue.'' The attentive outsider, unaccustomed to the ways of Christian ethics, is likely to wonder what, with all those …

Understanding The General Will, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

While I do not accept all of these rationalistic readings of the general will, I do share the general conviction that we can make sense of Rousseau's concept, and his argument, without resorting to metaphysics or psychology. What I shall offer here, accordingly, is in some respects only a variation on a theme now well known to students of Rousseau's political philosophy. It is an important variation nonetheless, for it enables us to reconcile passages in the Social Contract which otherwise appear to be contradictory. That, at least, is what I shall argue in this essay.

Need, Necessity, And Political Obligation, David B. Lyons

Faculty Scholarship

In Law and Obedience, Professor Woozley denies that there is an obligation to obey the law just because it is the law. Professor Honoré disagrees. He does so, however, not by offering small criticisms of what he calls "the skeptical philosophy," but by giving us a vigorous and original argument for the more conventional, conformist view.